Mind, Brains, and Machines

This course centers on the interaction between Neurosciences, Engineering and the Humanities, by posing crucial questions on intelligence, perception and aesthetics. How brains and machines build up knowledge? What is intelligence and “what do we talk about when we talk about artificial intelligence”? We will analyze how sensory systems build up a representation of the world, with particular attention to vision and audition. In parallel, we will explore the minimal requirements of a brain, building on our age-old attempts to build artificial intelligent systems. We will review the history of artificial intelligence and brain science, focusing on the connections that the two fields have had, on and off, over the years. This leads to a more general discussion on the foundations and limits of knowledge and the evolutionary roots of belief. Can we gather reliable knowledge? Are we prone to believe? What is the relationship between genes and environment? Beyond that, how does biology conditions our experience of Art? And further, can computers mimic creativity in Art? The course attempts to frame the above questions into the current scientific knowledge of the brain and the engineering of complex systems.